Nazi Punks Fuck Off

"Nazi Punks Fuck Off" was the fifth single by the Dead Kennedys. The record was released in 1981 on Alternative Tentacles with "Moral Majority" as the B-side. Both are taken from the In God We Trust, Inc. EP, although the version of the title track on the EP is a different recording from the single version. Melody Maker reviewed the EP in its "Single of the Week" section: "And fuck off the Nazi punks surely will when they hear this being played at them!" The single included a free armband with a crossed-out swastika. The design was later adapted both as the Dead Kennedys' logo and as a symbol for the anti-racist punk movement. In the late 1970s, some members of the punk subculture on the West Coast of the United States began to use Nazi symbolism for shock effect, and others adopted neo-Nazism in earnest. Some fans of earlier Dead Kennedys' songs "Kill the Poor" and "California Über Alles" missed the satirical intent and took Biafra's lyrics at face value.

Despite their strong view on fascism, Dead Kennedys became popular among the neo-Nazi punk movement when they were misinterpreted as right wing polemicists, and their gigs attracted an unwanted audience of neo-Nazis skinheads.^[1] The Dead Kennedys used "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" to answer these audience members.

Manchester engineer Martin Hannett, more usually associated with Joy Division and Buzzcocks, is named by Biafra in the opening of the In God We Trust, Inc. version of the song, held as having "overproduced" the production.^[2] The mention was intended as ironic, as Hannett never worked with the Dead Kennedys; he was just a widely respected and iconic engineer they just want to mention.

Napalm Death cover

"Nazi Punks Fuck Off" was covered by the English Grindcore band Napalm Death for their 1993 EP of the same name. The EP contains four tracks including the title song. The title track, along with the band's staunch anti-fascist stance, resulted in several of the band's shows being attacked by neo-nazis in the United States.

A song titled "Koori Punks Fuck Off" was recorded by Australian punk band TISM, but never released.

References

1. ^ "Dead Kennedys "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" live"
2. ^ "Martin Hannett biography". martinhannett.co.uk. Retrieved on June 28, 2008.

External links

• Entry at Earache's discography